1st off, this is not a how to, but rather how I did and I assume no responsibility to you modifying or changing your car for onroad or offroad use.
Sorry for the delay was redoing the front as I had an issue.
Originally I had the 1" pipe between the strut mount bearing and the plate that sits on top of the coil spring. This caused the bearing to fail. After taking it apart and inspecting it I can see why. The bearing is basically two steel washers with ball bearing between them and plastic shield around it. The thickness of the pipe was too thing so it distorted the bottom of the bearing.
This weekend I redid it a few times to get it how I feel it will last the longest while safely giving me the right amount of lift.
As of now on the 215/75R15 General Grabber AT2 tires I am at 30 1/8 - 1/4" from floor to fender bottom on the front and right at an inch higher in the rear. As for the height of the rear I believe it would have been level with the front if I had stayed with the factory installed springs instead of the Moog wagon springs.
So for the rear, I went to my local plumbing supply store and bought 2 4" to 2" pipe bushings like this:
I took some threaded 2" pipe and screwed into the smaller hole. I then cut the pipe off about an inch above where it met the pipe bushing. This sits between the rear spring perch and the coil spring. The 2" pipe goes inside the coil of the spring and keeps it from popping loose of the bushing from coming out. No pics, but its very simple. IF you must have pics I can get some in the future.
The shocks were extended using these made for an F250 but they fit just find once I drilled out the holes
https://www.amazon.com/Shock-Extend...d=1507052052&sr=8-10&keywords=shock+extenders
Now for the front. I ditched the already squashed stock bushings that are about 3 weeks old and replaced them with these from Amazon
https://www.amazon.com/PowerFlex-Po...50758&sr=8-1&keywords=strut+bushing+powerflex
There is no slack between the top mount and the strut tower like there is on the factory rubber bushings.
As for the lift, I disassembled the factory bearing and used the top of it (basically a washer) between the replacement bearing and the Powerflex bushing. This will push the strut 1/8" away from the bushing lifted the car about an 1/8". I still have several complete threads on the top after installing the cap so its nice and secure. I did this because I wanted as much lift as possible without causing the springs to be compressed anymore than they have to. When you compress the spring to gain lift, you lessen the amount of travel you have left in your strut.
Now after the bearing I the spring mount off of the factory struts just like it was going back stock. However I used spacers between the 1st strut spring mount and the second forcing the coil springs away from the top of the strut and lifting the vehicle. Here you can use grade 8 hardware like washers or pipe or the bushing of your choosing. I used grade 8 washers, and a 1" nut. The 1" nut has an ID of right at 7/8" (which is basically the diameter of the strut shaft). Here is a pic of my finished assembly.
As you can see the total lift is 1 3/4" plus the lift from the added tire height, the 1/8" from the washer before the strut bearing and finally the added height from the urethane bushing on top.
Now finally what took so long. When you preload the coil springs with simply a pipe or bushing between the bearing and the spring mount it puts the factory bearing in such a bind that you can not turn the bushing on the top once its assembled. I played around with washer and spacing and basically anything more than about 3/4" of preload binds up the bearing and you can't turn the top bushing by hand.
What I did to fix it. So since the strut and the strut mount need to move separately, the strut bushing has a flat metal plate inside it that rides on top of the bearing (the plastic outer portion). The strut itself rides on the bearings top washer, where my index finger is poking thru in the 2nd picture. The problem is when you put the shouldered nut that holds the strut bushing onto the assembly that it binds against this bearing and will not move.
My fix was to take a very thin steel washer with an OD just smaller than the ID of the strut bushing and I drilled out the ID of this washer to 3/4". That way it would go over the strut threads, sit in between the strut bearing and the shouldered retaining nut. This gave the strut mount a tiny amount of slack that allows the bushing to spin freely and not too much slack that the bearing is loose. If the bushing doesn't spin then you will get a squeaking or rubbing noise and some resistance when you turn the wheel. Not much, but some. This portion of the mod was just going off of my own understanding and reason and someone with actual knowledge and learning could probably explain this better and put me in my place.
Here is a close up of where the washer goes but not of the washer as I forgot to take that picture.
I think I'm pushing it on how much you can lift these cars in the front and the rear. Without any load on the rear of the car the extended shock tops out slightly. The weight of the car drops this a significant amount, however If I were to be going thru some jumps I think the suspension would top out. I'm not sure the duke boys would approve of this. On a Wagon, or even an Jetta I think this wouldn't be an issue not do I think it is any issue on my car just stating how it is now. If I bounce the rear as hard as I can I am not able to top out the shocks unless its on jack stands letting the rear suspension droop.
Finally here are some close ups of the front suspension assembled so you can see how its sits after driving it a little to make sure its settled. Fender gap looks good to me, ride quality once I installed the Energy Suspension sway bar kit is very nice. I drive 10 miles or gravel road, and 130 miles of paved road (most beaten up by winter, and log trucks) to work. The car turns relatively flat, doesn't bottom out on pot holes, and doesn't feel skiddish across the rough spots. I've driven it in the rain and have put a few tanks on this setup. So far no complaints other than the time I put into it. If I had to do it again, I'd buy better struts, the better strut mounts, springs etc the 1st time and only do it one time rather than trying the cheaper way and later redoing it like I did.
As for rubbing, on the driver side, basically none unless I'm turning sharp into a inclined drive. On the passenger side It was rubbing when turning right especially when backing up. I trimmed some of my already busted up fender liner and now it only slightly rubs when backing up if i turn it sharp.
If you have any questions i'll be happy to help (unless I gotta take this thing apart again)
